A two-alarm fire destroyed a vacant building at the former Paul A. Dever State School in Taunton early Monday afternoon.

The fire fully consumed the building, casting a thick, dark cloud of smoke over the area, and the structure partially collapsed.

A Taunton Police officer on scene said the building was the former canteen for the state school, which closed down in 2002 after about 50 years of serving clients with developmental disabilities. The building also housed a bowling alley and other entertainment.

Smoke could be seen billowing above the building from miles away; some witnesses said they saw the dark cloud from neighboring towns. The former state school campus, located on Bay Street, has about 45 buildings.

Firefighters were initially called to the scene at 11:08 a.m. on Monday, Memorial Day, a Taunton Fire Department dispatcher said. They remained on the scene through late Monday afternoon.

Several firefighters who were participating in the Taunton Memorial Day Parade dropped what they were doing and scrambled to Dever to assist.

In recent years, many fires have broken out at the former school and the site has also been plagued by incidents of vandalism. The previous fires include several reported arson fires, according to the Taunton Fire Department, in November, December and April of 2009, along with several other fires since then.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office and Taunton Police are involved with the investigation, along with the Taunton Fire Department. Taunton Fire Chief Timothy Bradshaw is investigating all possible causes.

“Just like any investigation, you do the best you can to recreate the strucutre, to see what potential causes are,” Bradshaw said. “With a building that didn’t have power, (and) isn’t occupied, the cause is limited.”

Bradshaw said firefighters will be at the scene overnight, but investigators will be going back on Tuesday to do technical investigative work. Bradshaw said accelerant sniffing dogs will be brought to the scene.

He said there he has “no reason to believe” that any harmful chemicals were burned and released into the air because of the fire.

Bradshaw said “any time you get a bunch of unoccupied buildings together” it can lead to problems with vandalism.

More than 200 acres of land at the old state school is now part of plans for redevelopment, city officials said. The land is now part of plans for redevelopment, to be incorporated into the Myles Standish Industrial Park, and the canteen building was among those to be razed.

No injuries related to the fire at Dever were reported as of late afternoon. The Taunton Fire Department said that the cause remains under investigation, and they are exploring all potential causes.

Investigators were seen talking to neighbors who live nearby on Bassett Street, including workers at group homes serving the developmentally disabled in the neighborhood.

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The building was once used in a movie, Bradshaw said. Bruce Willis was once in the building, during two or three days of filming for the 2009 science fiction film “Surrogates.”

“They did some low grade pryotechnics, so we were there,” Bradshaw said. “We were on standby. They also did a bonfire for a scene. ... I saw the movie. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t horrible. Bruce Willis is really short.”